


Token

by rakketyrivertam



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Backstory, Canon Past Slavery, Light Angst, M/M, Tenderness, mentioned death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-11
Updated: 2019-12-11
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21759799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rakketyrivertam/pseuds/rakketyrivertam
Summary: Optimus is captured and his subspace is emptied.
Relationships: Megatron/Soundwave, Past Megatron/Orion Pax
Comments: 2
Kudos: 81





	Token

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by this nifty thing I found at the Washington State HIstory Museum (this one is from Roslyn Mine No. 3):  


Decepticons jeered as Optimus Prime was dragged through their base in chains, hissing and spitting. At the end of his leash, Starscream danced, giving a cruel jerk whenever it took his fancy.

"So," Megatron stood from his throne, "the great Prime has been captured at last. Finally, he has been brought to trial for his crimes against his people." He pointed one claw in Optimus' direction. "Do you have anything to say for yourself before we begin?"

Optimus' eyes blazed bright. "You've lost your way, Megatron. You've forgotten the very cause you fight for and become like the very Senate you despised."

Megatron sneered. "That would require me exercising any measure of power over all Cybertronians. Here, all get to choose. Hook, for example, chose to be a medic." He turned to the Constructicon. "Empty his subspace."

Hook nodded and moved in, dextrous fingers plucking wires and dipping under plating until he found what he was looking for. Then, he started pulling things out. A knife, a set of datapads - "Romances!" he cried to the laughter of the troops - half an energon cube, and a small steel disc about the size of a Cybertronian thumb, engraved with the number 16.

"What's this?" Hook asked, holding it up to the light.

Optimus looked Megatron in the optics. "It belonged to my conjunx."

"Aww..." Starscream snatched the token from Hook and held it in his closed fist. "It would be a shame if something happened to it."

"Starscream," Megatron growled. He stepped down from his throne and gently took the thing from his second in command, then turned back to Optimus. "So you kept it, then."

"Of course," Optimus said. "You entrusted it to me."

The Decepticons whispered amongst themselves.

Megatron snarled and lashed out, grabbing Optimus by his collar and yanking him close. "I entrusted it to Orion Pax."

Optimus' feet dangled off the ground. "Does it still remind you what you're fighting for?" he asked.

Megatron scowled and threw Optimus away. "Put him in the brig," he ordered, stalking away to his office.

* * *

Soundwave found Megatron sitting at his desk, staring at the tiny piece of metal that had caused such a stir, cupping it in his hand, and occasionally poking at it with a finger. Soundwave knelt by his side and wrapped his own long fingers around Megatron's hand.

"Comms didn't work in the mines," Megatron said. "When we arrived for work, we hung tokens like these on the board, and when we left, we'd take them with us. At the end of each shift, the new shift would be waiting outside the mine, all of clustered together in the cold while they checked the board. If there were still tokens from the last shift, the foreman would select two mechs to go down and search for the corresponding miner.  
"Sometimes, it took hours, their gray frames blending into the metal of Cybertron's mantle. We would wait in the cold, and then we would go down and work the rest of our shift, only paid for time we spent in the mines. Once, we went without work for a decacycle, all of us required to remain outside the mine during our scheduled work time for those cycles.  
"You understand, the foreman had to have the bodies before he could commission more workers. Something about fair competition. A cycle or two after it was all done, our dead friend's token would be on the board again, belonging to a new mech."  
He held the token up to the light. "This token was mine. I gave it to Orion as a courting gift - a part of myself. And I told him to show it to me to remind me of the neverending cycle of death and slavery I emerged into and now fight against if I ever lost my way."

Soundwave nodded. "Optimus Prime fights for Cybertron. Megatron fights for Cybertronians. Distinction not immaterial. Way not lost. Optimus Prime must stand trial for crimes against Cybertronians."

Megatron sighed and cupped Soundwave's face with his massive hand. "As always, you are right. Where would I be without you?"

Soundwave leaned up and pressed their helms together, breathing deep. "Megatron would be still pining after Optimus Prime," he said, as playfully as his vocoder would allow. He paused, hesitant. "Orion Pax dead."

Megatron nodded.

Soundwave stood and held out his hands. "Come. Trial awaits."

Megatron took the offered hands and stood himself, taking a deep invent as he steadied himself. "For Cybertronians," he said.


End file.
